


living love in slow motion

by inlovewithimpossibility



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Best Friends, College, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Oliver Queen, Sleepy Cuddles, Support
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25290301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithimpossibility/pseuds/inlovewithimpossibility
Summary: Oliver Queen is very determined about a few things in life. One of which is definitely making sure his best friend looks after herself properly during finals week.[an olicity college au]
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 60
Kudos: 323





	living love in slow motion

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly long time, no see? It feels like it for me anyway 😂 I'm working on a fic for Camp Nano, which is why I haven't been posting as frequently, but I'm so excited to share what I've been working on there when it's done! 
> 
> For now! Have some adorable college babies I wrote as a break! I hope you enjoy and let me know if you do by leaving a kudos and/or comment if you're so inclined. They make my day!

* * *

Oliver Queen is angry.

He knows he probably looks like a madman storming through the MIT campus towards the dorms but he’s a man on a mission that he’s determined to complete.

You see, he’s not sure when his friendship with Felicity Smoak developed into her becoming the most important person in his life, but it did. The small, babbling blonde has full on wormed her way into his heart and set up camp there since the two of them met at a collaborative event for MIT and Harvard students. Oliver’s pretty sure she’s got a full-on mansion there to rival his parents’ real life one.

Point being, Felicity Smoak is important to him, and the thought of her being hurt? That fills him with an anger like he’s never felt before.

…even if the one doing the harming is Felicity herself.

Oliver hasn’t heard from Felicity in a few days, apart from a good morning and goodnight every day and the occasional Snapchat with plenty of crying emojis attached. MIT are in the middle of their finals period and Oliver knows how important Felicity’s grades are to her, so she’s been studying like a madwoman. But, judging from her WhatsApp activity, combined with the hours she was periodically updating her Instagram story at (with images of inordinate amounts of coffee)… Felicity hasn’t slept.

And that is what has Oliver storming into her dorm block looking to the world like a man on a mission.

"This ends now!” He comments as he walks through the (unlocked, he notes with a frown) door of Felicity’s dorm room. She shares with another scholarship student but Oliver knows her roommate spends all her time during finals in the library whereas Felicity prefers the comfort of her own space so he knows he won’t be disturbing her.

Felicity looks up from her spot at her desk, looking exactly as Oliver expects her too. She’s beautiful, she _always_ is, but the stress and lack of sleep are definitely evident. Her hair has been pulled back into a messy braid that’s lost nearly all its structure, her fingers definitely having pulled at the hairs near her face in a fit of stress. Her glasses are half hanging off her face, the bags under her eyes a deep purple color that stand out starkly next to her pale skin. She’s surrounded by coffee cups and paper, her desk covered in sheets and textbooks with her laptop barely visible if not for the light emitting from it.

She looks categorically like she needs a nap.

And that is what has Oliver stalking over to her desk, drawing her laptop out from underneath the pile of books, saving all her documents and progress before shutting it down.

“Oliver, what are you…? Hey!” Felicity screams, looking up at him with a scarily angry expression. Felicity angry is not something Oliver enjoys seeing, it’s downright terrifying to be on the receiving end of actually, but he’s determined to get her to nap. She needs it.

“Nope, I love you too much to let you run yourself ragged like this, Smoak. You’re no use to your brain in this state,” He counters, concentrating on marking her pages in her textbooks before he closes them, piling them up on her desk in an attempt to reduce the chaos in her room a little.

“Oliver… I need to study,” Felicity groans, wrapping a hand gently around his wrist to stop him from continuing to tidy. Oliver sighs, turning to look at her. She’s practically pleading with him, her eyes turning softer and a small pout that Oliver has _always_ struggled to resist forming, but he remains strong, shaking his head.

“Sleep is important for studying. Did you know it’s when all those facts are consolidated in that big brain of yours? So, if you don’t sleep, all that information will just go in one eye and out the other and that’ll be no use for your big test,” He explains gently, one hand coming up to cup her cheek and the other tapping her gently on the forehead when he speaks about her brain. Felicity groans, nuzzling into the comfort of his hand on her cheek, and Oliver cannot stop the smile that spreads across his face as the sight.

She’s too darn adorable for her own good sometimes.

“How do you know that?” Felicity asks after a moment, a small crinkle appearing in her forehead as she frowns. Oliver can tell she’s tired from the amount of time it takes for his words to register with her… she’s usually so quick-witted.

“I read a paper,” Oliver answers with a shrug, caressing his thumb over her smooth cheek for a moment before he gently lets her go and turns back to sorting out her desk.

“ _You_ read an academic paper you didn’t need to?” Felicity questions in disbelief, scooting her desk chair back a little as she crosses her arms over her chest with a skeptical raised eyebrow.

“Yes, your health is very important to me, Smoak,” Oliver counters with a smirk shot over his shoulder at her. She’s right to be doubtful, Oliver is not the best at academic reading, it took Felicity a while to convince him he should even be doing the reading he _needs_ to for his course, but he knows that his girl runs on logic and he needed facts to back up his plan.

“Oliver, this is all very funny, but I really do need to study,” Felicity sighs, standing from her chair. She stops for a moment, groaning before she stretches, and Oliver winces when _he_ hears her back click.

Standing, Oliver can see her better and he smiles to himself as he realizes that she’s dressed in one of his t-shirts he thought he’d lost, an old ‘Starling Prep Track Team’ one from his freshman year of high school that still engulfs her small frame. It falls to her mid-thigh, her sleep shorts only just visible beneath it and he blinks for a moment before he forces himself to stop thinking about those shapely legs.

“Nothing funny about it. You need to take a nap,” Oliver answers her seriously, finishing at the desk to turn around to level her with a stern expression.

“No! A nap is the last thing I need,” She tells him, that pout back on her face as she stares him down in all of her 5’4” glory.

“Nap,” Oliver counters quickly and Felicity huffs, her expression growing darker.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“No.”

“Yes… Screw you, Queen!” Felicity huffs as she falls into the trap and Oliver smiles for a moment in victory before he spots her shoulders falling and hears the long sigh she emits as her expression falls.

“Felicity…” He sighs softly, tilting his head as he looks at her with sympathy in his eyes.

“I just… I really need to ace this test,” She tells him just as gently, her eyes widening as her fear and worry paints itself across her face.

“I know, and you will. Smoak, you’re the smartest person I know,” Oliver tells her with a tender smile, shrugging his shoulders as he allows his unwavering faith in her and her abilities to seep into his words.

“I…” She starts to speak but then her bottom lip quivers and she just _crumbles._ Her eyes fill with tears, her shoulders slump, and she’s well on the way to falling to the floor.

“Hey, hey, c’mere,” Oliver darts forward, catching her before she can fall. He scoops her into his arms, sitting down on the bed and placing her gently in his lap. She clings to him as her tears turn to sobs, her shoulders shaking as her hands fist in the fabric of his shirt. “I got you.”

He holds her tightly as she cries, the stress and worry of the past few days finally catching up with her. He can do nothing but be here for her, clasping her tenderly as he tries to make sure that she doesn’t unravel so much that she loses herself.

After a few minutes, her sobs finally begin to subside to sniffles and she lifts her head from where she buried it tightly in Oliver’s neck. She frowns a little, moving her hand to wipe away the wet patch she’s left there but Oliver shakes his head, batting her hand away before he lifts his own to wipe the tear tracks from her face.

“I’m sorry. This test is just worth such a high proportion of the class because the professor’s a _dick_ and if I don’t do well then my GPA’s going to drop and if it drops too low then I’ll lose my scholarship and I can’t afford that and I just…” She babbles with a sniff, trailing off as her eyes fill with tears again. She tries to look away, blinking in an attempt to stop herself from crying but it’s fruitless as her cheeks wet once more.

“Felicity… it’s okay. You definitely don’t need to apologize. Everything’s going to be okay,” Oliver reassures her, turning her back to look at him with a gentle hand under her chin before he wipes her tears, his thumb gentle against her skin. His other hand rubs over her back comfortingly and she slumps into him.

“You don’t know that,” She comments in a whisper, and Oliver cannot help but smile with a shake of his head. It’ll always be baffling to him that Felicity doesn’t realize just how incredible a human she is.

“No… but I know _you_ and I know that there’s no way you’re going to flunk this test. You’ve been spitting facts at me from this class for months now. The information’s in there, I know it is. But you know what else I know?” Oliver questions with a small smile that only widens when Felicity pouts, her eyes wide and doe-like as she stares at him, her fingers fiddling absentmindedly with the fabric of his shirt.

“What?”

“That you cannot and will not do your best work running on what… 2 hours of sleep?” Oliver asks, keeping his voice light and his heart sinks as Felicity tugs her lips back beneath her teeth, her expression morphing into something very sheepish.

“I pulled an all-nighter last night, got maybe an hour the night before,” She tells him quietly and Oliver sighs under his breath but she’s close enough to him that she definitely hears it. Her expression melts a little further and the sadness on her face invokes a pang of deep guilt in Oliver’s chest, making him scramble to tuck the messy blonde locks falling out around her face behind her ear so that he can look into her eyes properly.

“Felicity… I know you need to keep your grades up for your scholarship but you can’t kill yourself doing it. You’ve got to sleep, to keep that big brain of yours whirling at its highest capacity,” He explains to her gently, righting her glasses on her face before he presses a soft kiss to her forehead. Felicity slumps into him at the sensation, her head falling into the crook of his shoulder.

“You’re right,” She mumbles into his skin and Oliver smiles affectionately, wrapping his arms around her.

“It’s been known to happen,” He chuckles, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and rubbing his hand over her back. She snuggles into him for a moment and Oliver feels his heart glow with affection for her. They haven’t put a label on whatever the hell this is but Oliver knows that there’s little he wouldn’t do for the girl in his arms. He loves her with everything in him.

“I just don’t know what I’d do if I lost my scholarship,” Felicity sighs after a moment, turning her head so that it’s resting on his broad shoulder and she’s looking up at him with scared eyes.

“It’s not going to happen. You’re way too smart for that, promise,” He tells her truthfully with a smile and she sighs.

“I don’t deserve you,” She comments after another long pause and Oliver immediately snorts at the ludicrous notion.

“Nonsense, Smoak. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” He replies truthfully with another kiss to her head. The words come easy because they’re honest. He’s never felt so at ease with anyone as he does with Felicity, just being in her presence is the most soothing of balms. “Now, come on, you can’t be a world-dominating evil genius without any sleep.”

He winks at her before scooping her up once more. With a quick turn and some maneuvering, he has her laying down in the bed, covers pulled over her, and is reaching to shut the drapes to block out the sunlight streaming through the window.

“Will you stay?” She asks softly when he looks back to her, wide eyes staring up at him and Oliver knows in that moment that he’s forever going to struggle to say no to this woman.

“You want me to?” He questions, bending down next to the bed with a gentle smile. He brushes her hair back from her face and Felicity sighs, her eyes growing bleary as she nuzzles into his hand.

“I sleep better when you’re here,” She comments simply, the tiredness removing any shred of a filter and Oliver feels his heart constrict with affection for her.

“Then, of course, Smoak,” He answers plainly, it being perhaps the easiest answer to any question, _ever._ He quickly reaches into her drawer, switching his jeans for the pair of his sweatpants that Felicity stole a month ago before he crawls into the tiny bed with her, carefully removing her glasses from her face and reaching over her to place them on her bedside table.

Felicity turns in his arms, burying her face in his chest as her arms wrap tightly around him. She’s asleep in second, her breathing evening out to gentle snores as she finally rests after days of non-stop stress.

Oliver watches her, a calm finally settling over him too as she sleeps, finally peaceful. She’s so simply beautiful like this and Oliver knows that no matter what, Felicity will always have her own special piece of his heart.

“You’ve always got me,” He whispers to her gently before he allows his own eyes to slip closed, falling into sleep peacefully with Felicity curled up in his arms.


End file.
